Safety Walk-Arounds: OSHA Factsheet

Looking for resources on interpreting the crystalline silica standard?

When guarding against exposure to silica, the protection of our employees must remain the primary focus. However, protection of the “bottom line” should also play a part as OSHA has ramped up it’s enforcement of the standard (read: VA contractor faces $300K in fines over silica violations).

How do you effectively comply with the standard? ASSP recently released a resource entitled “Silica Resource Guide for Contractors” that provides a FAQ for the questions contractors are asking, including:

The BCSP (Board of Certified Safety Professionals) is offering free quizzes for recertification. The quizzes provide a great opportunity for CE credits and is available the web or through mobile apps (Google or Apple). Every online quiz is worth 0.1 CM points and there are currently 58 quizzes available as of this writing. The quizzes are broken into two general categories based on publication (Professional Safety or Safety & Health), are open book, and may be taken repeatedly until passed (80% correct to pass).

The number of fatalities in the US work environment have increased over the past 9 years, and the rate per 100,000 workers has remained flat. With all of the focus on workplace safety, why is this the case?

Join the National Safety Council’s Statistics Manager, Ken Kolosh, as he explains the data and trends. You can sign up for the webinar HERE.

Safety Inspections, Safety Walk-Around, Safety Walk-About, GEMBA Walk, Safety Walk… the process goes by many different names. However, the basis and benefit for conducting these routine safety walks are the same.

OSHA recently released a guidance document, , on conducting effective safety walks that improves hazard recognition and communication about identified hazards with employees.

Why conduct a safety walk? Two reasons:

Demonstrate management’s commitment to improving safety and health in your facility by identifying and mitigating hazards, and

Allow management the opportunity to see for themselves how the safety and health program is working and it’s effectiveness in identifying and eliminating hazards.

The document provides a brief overview on pre-inspection, inspection, and post-inspection practices that can be applied in virtually every working environment.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work recently produced a video detailing the risk assessment process found in it’s . The video details the importance of the proper risk assessment procedures and the difficulties often faced by businesses. 4 simple steps are outlined to aid in the risk assessment process and follow a typical PDCA / Deming Wheel process analysis approach:

Have questions on what training is required for a particular OSHA standard? Look no further. OSHA has published a resource for all of the OSHA standards. In this booklet, the training requirements contained in OSHA’s standards are organized into five categories of OSHA standards: General Industry, Maritime, Construction, Agriculture, and Federal Employee Programs. This booklet identifies the training requirements in specific OSHA standards. For information on training techniques and resources for developing training programs, please see Resource for Development and Delivery of Training to Workers. (more…)

Racking your brain trying to think of a topic for tomorrow’s toolbox talk? Look no further than Gempler’s Safety Training Sheets and you’ll be well on your way. With a wide range of topics pre-canned, pick the most relevant one, and modify, as needed, to fit your workplace. Topics include:

What is a Safety Committee? A Safety Committee is a group of concerned individuals who have the overall safety and well-being of the employees and the success of the company in mind. Forming safety committees is an easy and effective way to improve the safety and health of the workplace. From an employer’s perspective, safety committees are great because they get employees involved and focused on keeping their workplace safe, on reducing accidents, and on increasing productivity. From an employee’s perspective, safety committees provide a safe venue where individuals can express their safety concerns, ask safety-related questions, or offer suggestions for improvement.

The purpose of the Safety Committee is to get more employees actively involved in safety, to eliminate accidents, and to help create a corporate culture that embraces safety. A Safety Committee consists of individuals gathered together to:

Definition: Tag lines, per 1926.1401, means a rope (usually fiber) attached to a lifted load for purposes of controlling load spinning and pendular motions or used to stabilize a bucket or magnet during material handling operations.

1910.180(h)(3)(xvi) states “…A tag or restraint line shall be used when the rotation of the load is hazardous.”

1926.1417(w) says “A tag or restraint line must be used if necessary to prevent rotation of the load that would be hazardous.”

1926.1431(k)(5) regulates “tag lines must be used when necessary to control the platform.”

When to use:

The load suspended by the crane is likely to swing back and forth (due to wind or other external factors) creating a control hazard.

The Campbell Institute has conducted a multi-year research study on leading indicators in the Environmental, Health and Safety field, with particular attention to Occupational Health and Safety. They have published 2 documents on their research on leading indicators that contain a wealth of information from industry leaders and visionaries.

Great information and resources for companies looking to move from a lagging indicator performance measurement system to a system that is designed to identify problems in the early stages for corrective action implementation. The documents provide case studies on what some of the top companies in the world have implemented with regards to safety and health leading indicators.

The national Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently hosted a webinar on the new NFPA 350 Guide for Safe Confined Space Entry and Work. This webinar is available above and on YouTube with highlights including: